The Brave Little Toaster - He is Back
by GeistK97
Summary: Radio was a hero. He saved Wittenstein, the animals, and his Master, but that came at a cost. He had sacrificed himself by giving his one and only tube away. His friends didn't take his absence that well and the loud, chatty Radio was missed the entire time he was gone, until now. He has gotten another tube and his friends could hardly believe it. But now his friends need closure.


After the incident with Mack and the close call with the animal deportation, the appliances set off and accompanied the Master and Mistress to their new property and estate. The animals all found a place to go and live, not having any cruel punishments or being left out in the cold and rain. The Master changed all their lives, and brought the appliances closer together than ever before. They all were great friends and have always stood out for each other. But during their adventure to save the animals, the appliances and even Ratso were faced with a major loss. Radio. The loud mouth had given up his WFC 11-12-55, a rare tube that even he declared was very rare, for Wittenstein to contact help and stall the departure. And because of this Radio was a hero, but paid the price. He went several weeks powered off and the room, the lab, the dorm, none of it felt the same. The appliances could see the saddened look on the Master's face as he would glance at his poor radio. But they were the most devastated. Radio, despite being a loud mouth and overly dramatic, always brightened up their day with a soothing song or giving out awards and compliments, acting like it was a news broadcast. Not a dull moment went by with him around.

Until he no longer was around. His sacrifice for the animals and Wittenstein left him turned off. His goofy talks and exaggerated antenna movements were all missed. Everyone started to get up at around 6 every day due to Radio's early bird news reports being engraved into their mind. Lamp would be the one to wake up early and for a split second, think Radio's obnoxious voice would cut through the silence. But it doesn't. He missed with every passing day for Radio to barge in and shout at him, causing him to wake up. But Radio can't. Blanky didn't take the sudden loss of his friend to well. He spent the first few days bawling his eyes out, and the Master had to dry him off a lot of times due to his tears dripping down onto his fabric body. And even with all the crying he did, no one blamed him, or told him to shut it. Because all of them felt the same thing. Kirby loved the music Radio would play, and even when they were all back at the cottage, Kirby from the sidelines would hum along or even dance when he turns a corner. Now with Radio gone, the pleasant sound of his music, even his soothing and expressive singing voice would all be just a memory. Toaster never stopped thinking about Radio, and even wondered if he could see them from up where ever he is. And through out there journeys, Toaster realized now that Radio's optimism and music kept them all going. Sure, it was Toaster who made them all go and push on, but Radio really helped out a lot. And Radio was a hero, but Radio's love of the limelight and celebration never came, as Radio couldn't celebrate it himself. The appliances carried out their duties, but all of them had the sinking feeling of an empty void in their electrical heart when they look at the cupboard above the Master's table, the cupboard that housed Radio's shell of a body. He can't carry out his prime directive and the appliances were scared the Master would throw him out. But he never did. This cycle went on for 3 weeks, but those 3 weeks felt like an eternity. This couldn't even compare to how the others felt when Toaster was crushed due to working gears powering the crusher. Toaster's out of body experience only lasted a day, and even then the applianced weren't worried, as the Master could fix Toaster, the Master can't fix Radio. His tube was the last of its kind, and even then, it is now inside Wittenstein. The animals were also having a hard time, as he was the one that saved them, and they couldn't even thank him. And Ratso keeps replaying the tube smashing to the floor. He wondered that if he didn't let his ego get in the way and let an experienced appliance **with** a WFC 11-12-55 install it into Wittenstein, would all this heartache and emptiness be avoided? He bottled up the guilt inside of him. And because of this, he couldn't even thank him nor apologize to him. Nobody was happy for a long time. It even hurt just talking about him.

That is, until the Master was leaving college and buying a house for him and the Mistress. He was packing all his things and even proposed to the Mistress. When suddenly, she pulled out a box and handed it to the Master. And when he saw the contents of the box, his smile grew even bigger. Then he held it up for an inspection and that was when the appliances finally saw it. It was a tube, and tube to power a radio with a transmitter. Everyone also started crying with how happy they were. As they watched the Master install it into Radio there smiled never wavered. Then music, beautiful music started to play. Radio was back. The Master smiled and turned Radio off and placed him with his other stuff. As he was done packing and getting the car started Radio could finally move again. The first thing he did was talk and dance and play music. He felt alive, literally. Even without a face to convey any facial expressions, everyone could tell he was smiling.

"The radio has rebounded back to Earth people." Radio exclaimed as he snuggled with Blanky to get warm. Now in the new house the appliances waited till nightfall to move around, and get a little therapy from just talking to Radio. The loud mouth from when he was brought back never shut up, and kept talking like these would be the last words of his life. In the dead of night, when Radio went to sleep everyone else had to wake him up. They knew he was a very light sleeper, so they used extra caution to get him to the floor and not leave him on the counter, as it wouldn't be fair for Kirby. As soon as Radio's feet touched the ground Radio was startled awake. As he gave a yelp he looked around at his friends who all wore a relieved smile on their face.

"Umm, so would you mind filling in your pal Radio here what you guys are doing?" Radio asked, and even just his voice made the others smile more. Toaster hopped over and gave Radio a big hug.

"We missed you Radio, we missed you so much." Toaster said, voice cracking and tears welling up. Radio was taken aback, but soon recovered and lowered his antenna on top of Toaster's back, rubbing it.

"Shh Toaster, easy fella. I'm back." Radio said, his soft voice filling Toaster with even more relief that he wasn't dreaming. As Toaster stepped away Blanky swooped in and wrapped around his red body.

"Don't ever do that again." The blanket ordered, eyes already filling with tears. Radio sighed.

"I won't. Don't worry." Radio said, leaning into Blanky's embrace and latching his antenna to him to, giving his own hug. As the small blanket slinked away Ratso walked over. He didn't give no hug but he looked free and relieved.

"Radio, thank you. You deserve all the thank you's in the world for what you did to those animals." Ratso said. Radio extended his antenna to Ratso and he took it, shaking up. Kirby rolled up and gave a small embrace with his cord, which Radio happily accepted.

"Say Radio, do you think by any chance you could play something?" Kirby asked, as that was all he wanted to hear. Radio wasted no time finding a channel and hoped in. It played a pleasant piano piece, a perfect tune and rhythm for what they were doing now. As the music was playing Lamp hopped over and lowered his head towards Radio and embraced him. Wrapping his cord and neck around him. Radio laughed and hearty laugh and responded with a hug of him own. Lamp broke into tears. The feeling of Radio physically being there after so long broke the Lamp. Radio was handling this delicate situation very well, not being over the top or loud. Right now he knows what he must do, and that his friends need him right now for closure. He knows he had been gone for a long time.

"Can I see it?" Lamp suddenly spoke. Radio was confused. He didn't quite understand the request.

"The tube, can I see it inside of you?" Lamp asked again. Radio gave as much of a sad smile as he could give and turned around. He bent his antenna downward and opened his hatch, revealing the tube, glowing bright and healthy. Everyone stared at it. Toaster, Blanky, Ratso, and Lamp all flashed back to the scene from the incident, recalling Radio's lifeless and tubeless body. Now he has another one and can function again. The appliances and Ratso then sat in silence for a while, just listening to the soothing piano music Radio was playing. Then they didn't care to place them all back where they belong, they all huddled up and slept, together. Everyone wore smiles and everyone was finally free and found closure.

THE END


End file.
